A Jamaica Defense Force armored vehicle make its way into a barricaded street in West Kingston on Wednesday. It was shot at just as it made its way past the barricade.​

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica's government declared a state of emergency in parts of its capital city Kingston Sunday after shooting and firebomb attacks on police stations by supporters of an alleged drug lord who faces extradition to the United States.The emergency covered the West Kingston and St. Andrews districts of the capital where gunmen fired on two police stations and set fire to another.

At least one policeman was injured. Kingston police on Sunday urged Christopher "Dudus" Coke, who the government is seeking under a U.S. extradition request, even as tension grew behind barricades erected by his supporters to protect him.
The U.S., Canada and Britain have issued travel alerts, warning of possible violence and unrest, and most Jamaicans are steering clear of downtown Kingston entirely.

Apartment slum now a fortress

In a gritty section of the capital, defiant followers of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a Jamaican "don" who is widely suspected of controlling gunmen in West Kingston's Tivoli Gardens, have transformed the slum into a virtual fortress cut off by trashed cars and barbed wire.

So far, violence around the barricaded slum has been sporadic. On Wednesday, an armored vehicle was sprayed by gunfire shortly after forcing a trashed car from an intersection. No security forces were hit, but the Jamaica Defense Force quickly called up the army reserves.

Hundreds of residents, many dressed in white, marched peacefully outside a police station Thursday with signs reading: "No Dudus, No Jamaica!"

A sign affixed to a scruffy dog's back read: "Jesus died for us, we will die for Dudus."

The standoff has intensified for nearly a week, since Prime Minister Bruce Golding reversed his long-standing refusal to extradite Coke to the U.S.

Aka 'President'

"The police are publicly calling on Christopher Coke, otherwise called 'Dudus,' 'Short Man,' and 'President,' to hand himself over," said a statement from police high command Sunday. "The security forces wish to make it very clear that they view the barricading as an act of cowardice on the part of selfish criminal elements, mainly Mr. Coke."

So far, violence has been sporadic in the impoverished community, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces tracking down fugitives killed 25 civilians, as well as a soldier and a constable.

Coke is described as one of the world's most dangerous drug lords by the U.S. Justice Department. He has ties of loyalty to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and holds significant sway over the West Kingston area represented in Parliament by Golding, who stalled Coke's extradition request for months with claims that the U.S. indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence.

Golding's fight against the extradition strained relations with Washington, which questioned the Caribbean country's reliability as an ally in the fight against drugs. His handling of the matter, particularly his hiring of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the extradition request, provoked an outcry that threatened his political career.

Coke, who typically avoids the limelight, has remained silent. He faces life in prison if convicted on drug and weapons charges filed against him in New York.

Family business

Coke allegedly leads one of Jamaica's gangs, which control politicized slums known as "garrisons." Political parties created the gangs in the 1970s to rustle up votes. The gangs have since turned to drug trafficking, but each gang remains closely tied to a political party.

Coke was born into Jamaica's gangland. His father was the leader of the notorious Shower Posse gang, a cocaine-trafficking band with agents in Jamaica and the United States that began operating in the 1980s and was named for its members' tendency to spray victims with bullets.

The son took over from the father, and expanded the gang into selling marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, U.S. authorities allege.

A police station in West Kingston, Jamaica is seen burning in this image taken from video on May 23. Jamaica declared a state of emergency in two parishes after shooting and firebomb attacks on police stations by suspected supporters of an alleged drug lord who faces extradition to the United States.
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Christopher 'Dudus' Coke is not one of those flashy dons who one sees at every dance or nightclub 'flossing' with bottles of high-priced liquor and scores of scantily dressed girls in his entourage. Unlike other dons, such as the late William 'Willie Haggart' , Dudus will party quietly, and most times, you won't even know that he is at the dance.

He is also not one of those dons who crave the attention of the media while flaunting power.

You would not find him following in the footsteps of the incarcerated Donald 'Zekes' Phipps, who would pose for the television cameras and boast about what he had done or would be doing.

"You know that I don't talk to the media," is the stock response from Dudus on the few occasions journalists have been able to get close enough to ask him questions.

But none of the numerous dons, strongmen or area leaders Jamaica has produced has wielded the influence of Coke - a man people call 'Shortman', 'Presi', 'Bossy', or just plain 'Dudus'.

Business success

A successful businessman, the company, Incomparable Enterprise, for which he was director up to December 2002, received millions of dollars in state contracts annually. His other company, Presidential Click, stages the biggest weekly street dance - 'Passa Passa'- in Jamaica., plus what is now a dancehall calendar event,'Champions In Action'.

Coke, according to key police sources, manages a network of criminal associates across the island, the Carribean, North America and the United Kingdom.

Dudus is benefactor to many persons who depend on him to send their children to school, buy food and, most important, settle disputes beyond Jamaican borders.

But the United States authorities say a big portion of the wealth Dudus spends so freely comes from the illegal drug trade, while many of the guns on the streets of Jamaica are brought here through his criminal network.

"Dudus runs the most sophisticated drug ring in Jamaica," a senior cop told The Sunday Gleaner, although he could offer no explanation as to why local police had not arrested and charged him in connection with any major crime.

"Dem man deh big and have links on both sides of the political fence, even though you know him support the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party)," said a rookie cop who entered the force with the bright idea that he could be the one to arrest and prosecute some of the island's crime kingpins.

"The senior man them already tell me say some man bigger than me, so all if me see Dudus with a spliff (ganja cigarette), me fi just mek him gwaan," added the rookie.

power of the man

That is an indication of the power of the man, and if there was any lingering questions about the reach of Dudus - who is wanted in the United States to answer gun and drug charges - those should have disappeared in the past few days.

The extradition request for Dudus is threatening to put an end to the political life of a prime minister, has already caused the resignation of a government senator, and has led to questions about the credibility of an administration that came to power with great expectations less than three years ago.

In addition, it has reduced commerce in downtown Kingston to a fraction of its regular performance, forced the army to call out the National Reserve, and caused the police to engage in planning an information strategy that has never before been seen by or commandeered the full attention of the entire nation.

If that were not enough, the spin-off from the extradition request has led the US to issue a travel alert for Jamaica, caused Britain and Canada to issue travel advisories for their nationals, and has the international media flooding Jamaica with calls for information.

While widespread rumour has it that CIA operatives have flooded Jamaica on account of the Coke issue, The Sunday Gleaner can confirm that international law-enforcement agencies and national-security partners have been keeping a close watch on the Dudus drama.

Outside plea?

The Member of Parliament for West Kingston - the home base of Dudus - Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has appealed to the residents of Tivoli Gardens to remain calm and allow the extradition request to go through the courts.

However, the appeal, delivered from the Office of the Prime Minister on Friday, sounded more like an outsider pleading for cooperation rather than the man in charge of the constituency.

Of note, Golding did not say to the residents, 'Remove the many fortified blockades that you have erected!, an order that if issued by Dudus, would take place in minutes.

Hundreds of residents of West Kingston took to the streets last week to voice their support for Dudus and, while some joined the crowd out of fear that they would be targeted if they did not participate, many were out because of a genuine love for the 'President'.

"After God, then Dudus," read one placard. "Jesus died for us so we will die for Dudus," read another, and these were not idle sentiments.

The police are hoping that lawyers representing Coke will convince him to turn himself in and if that does not work, the security forces are adamant that they will arrest him. But as that drama plays out, an entire nation holds its collective breath as one man holds a country hostage.

Soldiers heading to Up Park Camp, the Jamaican army's base, yesterday morning as the capital was plunged into gun violence

A masked man places a cross which was taken from a tomb in the nearby May Pen Cemetery atop a van used to blockade an entrance to Tivoli Gardens from Spanish Town Road yesterday. Some residents of Tivoli Gardens said last Thursday they would die for reputed crime lord Christopher Coke, a benefactor and enforcer in the community​

Dem nah built Great but Kill Great man, dem lie workin' fi Papa John and while dem believe in satan'

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Not in a dis a time rasta. Dudus afi put rasta children in a fyah bed..the belly of da beast!
He too work fi satan.But Jah shall rise for his children, the ital generation and big tings
afi gwan no sey.One.